A reader writes:

I’m one of the Corner’s most loyal liberal readers, and I think you’re
probably pretty right that Martin Peretz is being a little whiny and
backwards-thinking when he goes on and on about how unfortunate it is that
Gore lost. However, take a look at this part of the passage you cited:
“Gore never really asserted, or even suggested, that he had created the
Internet. He knows, first of all, that the Internet is not something that
is, mirabili dictu, invented. What he actually did say–that he played a
critical role in the political process that made way for the Web–isn’t
simply plausible; it’s undeniable. Still, the ludicrous assertion that he
had claimed scientific paternity gained such currency with TV pundits, who
do nothing if not repeat themselves and emulate each other, that charging
Gore with untruths became national sport. ”
While there’s a bit of hyperbole at the end there, I can se how you can look
at this and complain that it’s whiny, but you don’t make any effort to
address the fact that it’s, well, true. This same pattern happened over and
over again – Gore got tagged as wholly inauthentic, as nothing but an
opportunistic liar, based on the “invented the internet” thing and the “Love
Story” thing and the like, and this perception tended to blur actual
disputes on policy, which is where the battle should have been fought. The
whole campaign got played up in the press as the battle of the dumb-but-nice
guy versus the bright-but-dishonest guy, and nobody really strayed from that
story line, regardles of whether the mofdel actually fit the world.
I generally enjoy – if rarely agree with – what you write, but I did have to
take issue with the fact that you offered up this passage as an example of
typical lefty whininess while disregarding the perfectly valid substance of
it.

The reader is right about that Peretz passage inasmuch as hopefully Al Gore didn’t REALLY think he invented the Internet–however, when you consider the extent of Al Gore’s lies and exaggerations during the course of the campaign (Remember?!), it’s hard for me to find too much sympathy for the guy or outrage about the media’s treatment of him.

Update: A reader not as lazy as I am sends this snopes.com explanation of the Internet thing.